“You’re far from that,” he laughed. He pressed his lips to hers once more, lingering longer than he had with the first kiss. He pulled back slowly. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am you’re healing so well. Watching you fight your pain and your nightmares aren’t something I’d like to experience again.”
She placed her hand on his cheek. “Soon everything will be over and we’ll be able to concentrate on just us.”
She saw a flash of concern in his eyes before he disguised it behind his smile. “I’m sure you’re right. I’m beyond ready for that day to get here.”
She felt like a new woman after her shower, and Elena took her to the kitchen to forage for something to eat since all of the men were working in the conference room still. According to Anya, the men had been sequestered in the conference room nearly non-stop, only taking time to step out for quick meals and to catch a few hours of sleep. Evie wondered if it all revolved around the men who hunted her or the mission Santo had coming up, or if they were the same.
The three close friends ate a light lunch together, and Anya shared she’d be returning to her vet duties now that the rain had started to let up and some of the surrounding floodings had gone down. Elena intended to visit some of the ranches she served that had indoor arenas so she could work with some of the horses. Though it had only been four days since they’d been away from their work, they knew a lot had built up in their absence.
Evie longed to have a job in need of her assistance. She had checked her cell phone after her shower, but there were no voicemails or missed calls. She doubted Corpus had been able to fully take stock of everything that had happened due to the severity of the hurricane. Once the courthouse began to function again, would they even call her? A shudder rippled through her. They had enough to deal with. They had the death of an entire judge’s family to mourn.
After lunch, Evie squared her shoulders and climbed the stairs, knocking on the glass door looking in on Buzz’s communication hub. Brusco came out of the conference room and frowned when he saw her standing at the door, but opened it anyway. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” he asked in his deep, gravelly voice.
“Phantom said I can get around a little now as I build up my strength. I’m not going to do it wasting time on something useless. If I’m going to be up and about, I might as well be productive and help find the answers we need to put this nightmare to an end.”
The large man stepped backward, waving her in. “You’ve got a point there. Though, if Santo yells at me for letting you in, I’m going to tell him you forced me.”
Evie looked at Brusco’s broad frame and thick muscles and chuckled. “Right. I’m sure he’ll believe that.” Santo appeared in the doorway to the conference room, his hands on his hips, a scowl on his face. “Speak of the devil,” Evie mumbled under her breath.
“What are you doing? Just because your fever is gone doesn’t mean you’ve fully healed.”
“Santo, I feel better than I have since I got here. I’m strong enough to help finally. Please, let me work with Buzz on digging into the site.”
“Sounds like a damn fine idea to me,” Buzz said, appearing next to Santo. “We’ve hit a roadblock with everything else. It’s our best lead to pursue.”
Santo shook his head, clearly frustrated, but didn’t stop them. “Just, please don’t push too hard, okay?”
“Absolutely.”
“Of course.” Evie and Buzz answered at the same time, gave Santo sheepish grins, and shrugged. Santo rolled his eyes.
Buzz led her to a chair near the computer monitors and keyboards and took another one for himself. As they got settled, the rest of the team filed out of the room, talking about lunch. Santo placed a quick kiss on the top of her head as he left the room, and she resisted the temptation to catch his hand and pull him back for a proper kiss before he left.
When she spun back around, an open box on the desktop caught her attention. “What’s this?” she asked, reaching in and pulling out a thin device that reminded her of a microchip.
“My latest toy,” Buzz said, grinning broadly. “It’s a tracking device. Whenever you snap it in half, it’s activated, and I can track it anywhere in the world.”
“Fascinating,” she murmured, turning the small device over in her palm.
“Keep one. I’m still testing them, so if you ever want to activate it for fun, I’ll be able to tell you if it’s working or not.”
Evie smiled. “What makes you think I want you to be able to track me down? Santo and I may be escaping for an adventurous weekend just for us.”
Buzz chuckled. “It’s something that could potentially help us keep you safe. It would make me feel better if you carried one with you.”
She shrugged and snapped it in half before sliding it into her pocket. She grinned and turned her focus back to the computer screens and listened to Buzz explain how he used them. She wanted to find answers to the recent murders as quickly as possible, for the sake of justice, and so she could move on with her own life. With each day that passed, she became more and more certain her future had Santo in it.
Chapter 29
“Do you want to navigate to your site or do you want me to get us to that point?” Buzz asked.
“I’d like to watch you do it. If I watch someone else it isn’t me just pressing keys out of habit. After I see what you do, I’m sure the administrative piece will come back to me.”
Buzz nodded. Giant seemed the only appropriate term to describe the man she sat near. He had to be four or more inches over six-foot-tall, and his arms seemed to be as large around as her thighs. With his imposing stature, she didn’t expect him to be quick with anything. When his fingers began to fly over the keyboard, she watched, mesmerized.
“Any of this looking familiar to you?” he asked as he navigated through different portals on the dark web.
“Yep. This looks like how I navigate the game site. A lot of it has changed from the way it first looked years ago.”
Buzz shrugged. “Comes with technology. Always changing at the speed of light. Let’s just hope not too much has changed within your game administration.” Within minutes he entered the game and approached the haunted house.
Evie knew for things to look for such as traps or other dangers and directed him through the large gate. “You’re about to see the sign for the first hidden room.”
“No shit? I thought it was the room I discovered in the dining room.”
Evie looked at Buzz with confusion. “You were able to get into that room?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Did anything weird happen?”
“Not weird, but I’d barely entered the room before a ghost flew up to me and killed me.”
“You’re not supposed to be able to go into that room unless you’ve earned a certain level. Someone set a trap.”
Buzz arched an eyebrow. “You think someone intentionally targeted my avatar?”
“Maybe not just your avatar, but avatars that are trying to cheat through the game.”
Buzz chuckled. “I guess I was caught cheating. Well, you know this site better than any of us. Go for it.” He pushed the keyboard towards her. “Have fun. I usually don’t get much farther than this.”
“You must have been using some crazy code to get into that room.” Evie shook her head, moving Buzz’s avatar around quickly, searching for the clues she knew were stashed in certain spots.
“I did some intense hacking and striping away at the face of the site. Almost as soon as I found it, though, firewalls slammed shut and I ended up slain by an ugly ghost.”
“This is just weird.” Evie frowned as she typed in lines of code and information to direct her avatar.
“What?”
“The clues aren’t where they should be. I haven’t uncovered a single one.”
“Most games move things around so it isn’t as easy when you go in the next time.”
“No, it’s more than that. It’s almost as if the clues
are gone.” Evie typed quickly on the computer and her avatar jumped to another room of the house. “Son of a bitch.” Her words came out barely audible.
“What? What did you find?”
“There’s code hidden in this room. Can you see it?”
Buzz searched the screen. “Yeah. Along the side of the fireplace. Damned hard to see.”
“I know that code.”
“Okay, that’s a good thing, right? You can take us to the clue or whatever now.”
“No. The code is a trap. It’s a failsafe. No one would be able to play this game if they tried anymore unless they were already long-existing avatars. This code was written specifically by David. He’s hunting.”
“Hunting for who?”
“Me.”
* * *
Evie’s eyes widened as a horrifying thought entered her mind. “What if he wasn’t trying to hunt me? What if he’s running a program on the back end to pinpoint our location? He knows how I code. That may be why things started shutting down on me. He knew it was me and began to run a Trojan horse through the game’s back end code.”
Buzz’s frown turned into a deep scowl. “I’d like to say everything is protected, but I need to check everything. Our router pings off multiple other routers and he should be sent on a merry chase around the world before he’d ever come close to us.”
Evie chewed her lower lip. “I could almost feel his desperation from the lines of code he wrote. He’s the one leading the people trying to find me for information. I have no doubt now. As you said, he wants it controlled by his orders. He’s got a failsafe on this site now—and he’s customized it specifically to watch for my coding. He’s been waiting for me.”
Buzz placed his massive hands on her shoulders, forcing her to draw a deep breath and look him directly in the eye. “We’re going to catch this asshole. His role in this terrorist group is about to come to an end. Now… That was some pretty fancy coding you did just now. Where’d you learn to do that?”
Evie shook off her frustrations with David and focused on Buzz. “My entire life we were always moving around. I didn’t have many friends. So the computer became my way to escape. I had no fear when it came to jumping into the latest technology. For some reason, the computer language makes sense to me. When I found the dark web and the ability to access just about anything in the world, I practically became obsessed.”
“What made you stop?” Buzz watched her curiously.
“Honestly? My interactions with David. Before I interacted with him, I thought the dark web was just one giant game. Everyone shared various lines of code they’d developed in the forum where I first met him. My code, by comparison, was sub-par at best, but he encouraged me to keep working at it. When I realized he copied code from the forum to hack dangerous sites, I dropped out. I should have reported him, but I was too scared. Now he’s more lethal than ever, and I will always regret not telling authorities about him.”
“You had every right to be afraid. You realized, even then, the threat he posed.” He patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. “We have more information to work with than we had before. I know the next step, and I think you do, too. It isn’t pleasant, but it has to be done.”
“I’m going to have to go in with my own avatar.”
“Not only that, but it looks like the only way you can get into your administrative links is if you win the game.”
Evie ran a hand down her face. “That could take weeks. Or months. The system is extremely complex.”
“I have faith in you.”
Evie glanced at the computer screen, then back at Buzz, and nodded. She chewed on her lower lip, unable to shake a feeling of unease. “You’re going to check everything as you said, right? You’re going to make sure everyone is still safe, right?”
“Yes. I’ll even show you the results when I’ve finished the diagnostics if that will make you feel better.”
Evie nodded. “Thank you, Buzz.”
“Don’t worry about this anymore, Evie. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“What shouldn’t she worry about?” Santo strode into the room, one eyebrow arched. “You two have fun playing games?”
“She’s incredible on the computer. Her coding skills are amazing.”
“Does that mean she can replace you? Because your Christmas carols have got to go.”
“Hah! You like them. Just admit it already.”
Santo chuckled, shaking his head, and returned his attention to Evie. He planted a kiss on her forehead. “You two probably lost track of time. It’s already nearly dark outside. I asked Snap to make you fettuccini alfredo since I know how much you love Italian food. Do you feel up to eating with us, or do you want me to make you a plate and bring it to the bedroom?”
Evie smiled up at him. The idea of relaxing in bed held a lot of appeal, but she’d spent more time there than she wanted. “I would like to eat with everyone.”
Santo smiled. “Good. The group has been asking when we get to enjoy your company again. They think I’ve been deliberately keeping you to myself.”
“You mean you haven’t?” She teased him, sliding an arm around his lean waist. She wanted to be with him every second she could get since she had no idea when he’d be leaving her for his mission.
“No,” he answered, then wiggled his eyebrows. “Not yet, at least.”
* * *
“She’s digging.”
“You were able to stop her I take it?” Greg frowned, keeping his voice quiet enough so no one in the other rooms could hear him. He couldn’t afford the mercenaries he hired to know his secrets. He paid them for their services based on his instructions. Anything beyond that could put him at risk for blackmail.
“Yes. But she’s working with someone. Due to her attempt on the site this evening, I’ve learned something valuable, but it has to stay between the two of us, no matter what the outcome. I think she’s working with the navy team the congressman’s snitch told him about. Even though I want to see them destroyed, we can never tell the congressman, or he’ll know we’ve been involved in things without his knowledge.”
“They may have to be collateral damage anyway. It will be a win-win for everyone.”
“You don’t get it. If anything gets tied back to you or me, the congressman will make sure we die slowly and painfully for operating behind his back. Can I trust you with this information or not?”
Greg tilted his head from side-to-side, loosening stiff muscles. “Fine. We’ll play this your way. The congressman stays in the dark. What did you find?”
“I know where she is.”
* * *
“Admiral Haslett, Buzz has been able to uncover critical information regarding the illegal weapons auction. Everything he’s discovered tells me unequivocally we need to stop it. There are so many moving parts, it’s best if Buzz tells you directly.” Santo nodded to Buzz to take over the conversation over their video chat with the admiral.
“Sir, as you know I’ve been continuing research into Jonas Franklin’s accounts, activities, and anything stored on his computer. Something jumped out at me that connects Franklin to Benicio.”
“When I sent all of you to Hebbronville, I hoped with the things Francis had shared this would come about. While I’m glad Benicio’s drug cartel has fallen apart and you stopped Franklin’s human trafficking ring, there’s clearly a much bigger picture. Does the connection still revolve around that programmer David?”
“Actually, no. Someone new has come to the surface and brings many things into perspective. We all know Colombia has been the go-to source for drugs for decades, and Benicio received a majority of his supply from there. However, the latest black-market item they’ve been dealing in is gold.” Buzz glanced at Santo as he spoke. They all thought of the many people the recent uncover touched.
“Actually,” Snap interjected, “illegally mined gold has become one of the top forms of criminal activity in Colombia. It has surpassed the drug trade. Their methods
are destroying people and the land. What’s most disheartening about all of this, though, is that the largest consumer of their illegally mined gold is the United States.”
Snap had become their expert on Colombia and the illegal gold trade as he had dived deep into investigating the operations when they had discovered the mass of raw gold from Franklin’s safe when they seized his home a couple of months earlier. Snap knew more about illegal gold mining, methods, and smuggling than most people who had been studying it for years. He had a way of jumping into the details, unlike anyone Santo had ever met.
“Now, in addition to the computer programmer, Benicio and Franklin are connected by raw gold?” Haslett directed his question to Buzz.
“Yes. Records I unearthed prove both Franklin and Benicio were paid at the same time in raw gold by the same person. I couldn’t figure out why they were getting paid by someone in Colombia with raw gold when they were usually the ones paying brokers to facilitate transactions providing them with either drugs or humans to traffic. It didn’t make sense for someone in Colombia to pay them.”
“In Franklin’s files, Buzz found a transaction record with a man from Colombia,” Snap said. “The man was paying Franklin hush money. Franklin knew something about a man operating in Colombia under the name Gregory Blanco. Various communications confirmed the payment method and that it would honor an agreement for Franklin to keep a critical secret about Greg.”
“Could he be American?” Haslett could win millions if he ever decided to go to Vegas, Santo thought as he watched the discussion. The man had the best poker face he’d ever seen. He knew Haslett desperately wanted to identify the players within the U.S. government to prevent a possible terrorist situation from escalating out of control.
He also seemed extremely interested in news about the illegal gold mining and had talked to Snap about it before. He had indicated he had his theory about the people financing things within Mexico, Central, and South America, in addition to the funds they were garnering from the U.S. He didn’t have enough proof to back up his theories. Yet.
Protected in His Arms: Elite Texas SEALs Page 28
